Replenishing mechanism for looms



Jan. 19, 1960 w. H. BANKS ETAL 2,921,510

REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 1, 1958WALDO H. BANKS HARRISON N. THIBAULT A TTORNE Y Jan. 19, 1960 w. H. BANKSETAL 2,921,610

REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS Filed Aug. 1. 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Iamumnnn. iilamllilggj wum INVENTOR. 4 WALDO H. BANKS HARRISON N TH/BAULTA TTORNE Y United tates Patent REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS Waldo H.Banks and Harrison N. Thibault, Hopedale,

Mass., assignors to Draper Corporation, Hopedale,

Mass, a corporation of Maine Application August 1, 1958, Serial No.752,545

Claims. (Cl. 139-245) controlled by a filling supply actuated member atthe entrance end of the battery.

It is a further object to provide a stop means which may be assuredlyreleased upon the exhaustion of the supply of bobbins having fillingwound thereon in one compartment of the magazine so as to permitadvancement of the magazine so that the next compartment is in feedingposition above the entrance of the battery.

It is a further obejct to provide a stop means which includes a latchmeans movable to two positions and efiective for maintaining acompartment aligned with the battery in each of said two positions.

It is a further object to provide a stop means which is efiective tohalt advancement of the magazine momentarily until a filling package hasbeen released into the opening of the battery whereupon said stop meansis actuated to a second holding position.

Further objects will be apparent from the following disclosure.

Most fly shuttle looms presently in use utilize a rotary or otherbattery from which a filling supply on a bobbin is automaticallytransferred to a shuttle as needed. This battery may contain up to abouttwenty bobbins which must be manually inserted into the battery and theend of the thread Wound about a knob or other retaining means, thusinvolving considerable time and labor.

in United States Patent No. 2,778,382 there is disclosed a combinedgravity and vibrational feed means making possible the supplying of avery large number of filling bobbins to the loom without the manuallabor of inserting each individual bobbin. A novel bobbin container isdisclosed therein which is formed into vertical compartments forvertical tiers or rows of bobbins contained therein and held in place bya retaining means at the lower end of each row. A stop means restrainsadvancement of the magazine until the bobbins in a particularcompartment of the magazine have been exhausted at which time themagazine is advanced by gravity and normal vibration of the loom so thatthe next filled compartment is in position to feed bobbins to thebattery and so on until the magazine is depleted of its supply. Thetrack upon which the magazine rides is long enough to accommodate two ormore of the magazines so that a second filled one may automatically moveto feeding position.

According to the present invention the filling package "ice in theabove-cited patent having a track system which permits gravitationaladvancement of the magazine. However, a novel stop mechanism has beendevised which is so constructed that it will readily be forced to arelease position at the proper time in spite of the weight of a part ofthe magazine bearing thereupon. The stop mechanism is such that it alsoprevents any possibility of bypassing of a filled compartment withoutrelease of bobbins therefrom. These desired results are effected bymeans of a latch member having two horizontally separated abutments anda fixed cam element cooperating therewith. One of these abutments delaysadvancement of the magazine only sufficiently long so as to enable abobbin to be released from its compartment and to actuate an indicatordoor at the entrance of the battery which then causes the latch to pivotto its second or holding position at which the second abutment comesinto play to prevent further advancement of the magazine.

The invention will be described in'greater detail by reference torapreferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying figures of drawingswherein:

container or magazine is preferably of the type disclosed Fig. l is aside elevation of the invention applied to a loom.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the stop means illustrating its position at theinstant of release of a bobbin from its compartment in the magazine.

Fig. 3 illustrates the position of the stop means after a supply ofbobbins has dropped into the battery and wherein the magazine ispositively engaged by the stop means.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 3.

Now referring to Fig. 1, the invention is shown applied to a loom only asmall portion of which is illustrated. The right hand side of the loomhas attached to it rails 10 and 11 which extend forwardly and downwardlyand which support the bobbin feeding means or magazine 12, which isshown as having a supply of bobbins 13 therein. The magazine is normallyadvanced upon the tracks by means of gravity and the normal vi brationof the loom and is shown as being retained in position by a stop meansgenerally designated as 14 to be described in more detail hereinafter.

Upon release of the stop means bobbins drop into a battery 15 each ofwhich is periodically transferred to a shuttle 16 in a manner well knownin the art. As the bobbins are exhausted from the final compartment ofthe magazine, the latter is transferred by means of cross supports 17and 18 to a second set of tracks 19 and 20 (see Figs. 1 and 4).

Except for the stop means, the magazine and its related structure havebeen more completely described in United States Patent No. 2,778,382 andreference is made thereto for a more detailed disclosure of suchstructure and it need not be repeated here.

Now referring to Figs. 2 to 4, the. stop means 14 is shown as beingmounted upon the track 11. A second stop means is shown at 14 mountedupon track 10 identical in structure to said first stop means exceptthat it is reversely directed, and thus only the stop means 14 need bedescribed in detail. The latter comprises a latch means 21 preferablymetallic pivoted at 22 to a magazine trip member 23 which may be castiron fastened to the track by means of bolts 24. The trip membercomprises a horizontally inclined cam portion 25 having a recessedportion 26 therein. The cam portion is in alignment with the track sothat it may be engaged by a transverse rod 27 which normally retains atier of bobbins in a compartment of the magazine and which is movablewhen so engaged in a slot 23 at the side of a compartment extendingrearwardly and upwardly thereof.

The latch 21 has at one end two inturned portions 29 and 30 forminghorizontally separated abutments which are engaged by the transverse rod27 and affect movement of the magazine in a manner to be described. Therecessed portion 26 is positioned on the cam in such manner that it mayreceive the abutment 30 when the latch element 21 is caused to pivot inthat direction.

A substantially vertically extending link element 31 which is alsopreferably metallic is pivotally mounted at its upper end to theopposite end of the latch means by means of a pin 32 and has a slot 33formed in its lower end.

An indicator shaft 34- is supported in bearings 35 and 36 on the upperchute C, said bearings preferably being Nyliner type bearings so thatthey need not be oiled. An indicator door 37 of steel or other metal isfastened to the shaft 34 approximately centrally thereof and isoverbalanced by means of the indicator counterweight Both thecounterweight and indicator door are fixedly mounted to the shaft 34 byfastening means 39 and 40, the door having slots provided therein topermit adjustment thereof in a substantially horizontal direction in theposition shown in Fig. 3.

At the end of the shaft 34 shown in Fig. 3 there is fixed a metalliclink lever 41 having an extension 42 protruding therefrom and receivedin the slot 33. A washer 43 and cotter pin or any other retaining means(not shown) act to prevent the link member 31 from being separated fromthe extension 42.

An adjustable stop member 44 is threaded in a substantially verticaldirection through an extension of the trip member 23 which limitsmovement of the link arm 31 in a downward direction.

The opening of the battery is shown at 45 and its size is determined bythe vertically extending wall portions 46 and 47. The adjustability ofthe indicator door 37 permits a variation in the size of this opening,which should be about A2" to larger than the diameter of the filling 48on the bobbin.

The operation of the novel stop means is as follows:

One or more magazines filled with bobbins is placed upon the tracks and11 to the right of the stop means as viewed in Fig. 1. As the loom isstarted vibrations cause the magazine to move slowly toward the stop. Asthe retaining transverse rod 27 of the first compartment is caused tomove upwardly and rearwardly in its respective slots 28 due to theinclination of the cam element 25, at approximately the position shownin Fig. 2, the bobbins retained by the rod 27 are released into theopening of the battery and forward movement of the magazine ismomentarily halted by means of the abutment 30 coming into contact withthe rod 27.

This delay is only for a brief instant, however, and is for the purposeof permitting the first bobbin of the compartment sufiicient time tofall to the indicator door 37 and to cause it to open. As soon as thedoor is struck by the first bobbin the latch 21 is caused to pivot andthe transverse rod 27 is engaged by the second abutment 29 andpositively held at that position as shown in Fig. 3 while the abutment30 is received in the recessed portion 26 of the cam 25. The stop meansremains in this position until the supply of bobbins in the batteryreaches a point which is below the lower end of the door 37.

When this takes place, the counterweight 38 moves the door 37 upwardlybut the link member 31 is not actuated until the extension 42 is movedfrom the upper to the lower end of the slot 33 at which time the stopmeans is effectively released due to the sudden impact upon the link bythe extension. This lost motion effect overcomes any tendency of thestop to remain engaged due to the weight of a part of the magazinebearing upon it. The transverse rod passes through the opening betweenthe two abutments and the cycle is repeated at the next compartment ofthe magazine.

While one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to beunderstood that the inventive concept maybe carried .outin a number-ofways. This invention is, therefore, not to be limited to the precisedetails described, but is intended to embrace all variations andmodifications thereof falling within the spirit of the invention and thescope of the claims.

We claim:

1. In combination with a loom for weaving, a bobbin feeding means forretaining and presenting for transfer to a loom shuttle a supply ofbobbins having filling wound thereon and received from a magazine guidedfor travel above and in register with said feeding means, said magazinehaving its bobbins disposed in vertical tiers and means including atransverse rod for retaining each tier of bobbins, said rod beingmovable in inclined slots for releasing a tier, and means operable withsaid feeding means for stopping a magazine in position to dischargebobbins to the feeding means which includes latch means movable to twopositions and effective for maintaining a tier of bobbins aligned withsaid feeding means in each of said two positions.

2. In combination with a loom having a shuttle, a battery for holding aplurality of filling packages from which the loom shuttle isperiodically replenished, means for automatically supplying fillingpackages to said battery which comprises an inclined supporting track, acompartmented container movable by gravity along said track and stopmeans at the track for engaging said container at each of two positionsand effective for maintaining a compartment aligned with the first ofsaid positions for a relatively short period of time and with the secondof said positions for a relatively long period of time.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said stop means comprises apivoted latch element which is controlled by a filling supply actuatedmember at the entrance end of said battery.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said latch element is actuated bymeans of a link member slotted at one end whereby positive displacementof said latch element is insured.

5. In combination with a loom having a shuttle, a battery for holding aplurality of filling packages from which the loom shuttle isperiodically replenished, means for automatically supplying fillingpackages to said battery which comprises an inclined supporting track, acompartmented container movable by gravity along said track and stopmeans at the track for engaging said container wherein said stop meanscomprises a pivoted latch element having two horizontally separatedmagazine engaging abutments.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said latch element is actuated bymeans of a link member slotted at one end whereby positive displacementof said latch element is insured.

7. The combination of claim 5 wherein said latch element is controlledby a filling supply actuated member at the entrance end of said battery.

8. In combination with a loom having a shuttle, a battery for holding aplurality of filling packages from which the loom shuttle isperiodically replenished, means for automatically supplying fillingpackages to said battery which comprises an inclined supporting track, acompartrnented container movable by gravity along said track and stopmeans at the track for engaging said container wherein said stop meansis effective to halt advancement of said container momentarily until atleast one filling package has been released into the opening of saidbattery whereupon said stop is actuated to a second holding position.

9. In combination with a loom for weaving, a bobbin feeding means forretaining and presenting for transfer to a-loom shuttle a suppiy ofbobbins having filling wound thereon and received from a magazine guidedfor travel above and in register with said feeding means, said magazinehaving its bobbins disposed in vertical tiers and means including atransverse rod for retaining each tier of bobbins, said rod beingmovable in-inclined-slots for releasing a tier, and means operable withsaid feeding means for stopping a magazine in position to dischargebobbins to the feeding means which includes latch means movable to twopositions and having two horizontally separated abutments, ahorizontally inclined fixed cam element adapted to be engaged by saidrod to cause movement thereof rearwardly and upwardly in said inclinedslots, said cam element having a recessed portion therein into which oneof said abutments is movable upon actuation of said latch means to itssecond holding position.

10. In combination with a loom for weaving, a bobbin feeding means forretaining and presenting for transfer to a loom shuttle a supply ofbobbins having filling wound thereon and received from a magazine guidedfor travel above and in register with said feeding means,

said magazine having its bobbins disposed in vertical tiers and meansincluding a transverse rod for retaining each tier of bobbins, said rodbeing movable in inclined slots for releasing a tier, and means operablewith said feeding means for stopping a magazine in position to dischargebobbins to the feeding means which includes latch means movable to twopositions and having two horizontally separated abutrnents each of whichis separately contacted by said transverse rod during the alignment of asingle tier with said feeding means and between which said rod passesupon release of said latch means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,778,382 Banks Ian. 22, 1957

